Whitman agrees to 2 more TV debates with Brown

Whitman, Brown now set to battle in 3 TV forums

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Californians craving more detail about how their next governor plans to address the state's problems will get more face time with the candidates this fall as Republican Meg Whitman Tuesday agreed to two more televised debates with her Democratic opponent Jerry Brown.

Whitman agreed to square off with Brown on Sept. 28 at UC Davis and challenged him to appear with her four days later at Cal State Fresno, a debate that would be broadcast by affiliates of the Univision Spanish-language television network around the state. Whitman lately has been courting the Latino vote. The UC Davis debate will be broadcast on KCRA-TV in Sacramento.

The former two-term governor and Oakland mayor said last month he had accepted invitations to 10 debates and town hall meetings around the state that had been offered to him and Whitman. The two camps had previously agreed to debate the week of Oct. 11 at Dominican University in San Rafael.

'A win for Whitman'

With three debates clumped together three weeks before the Nov. 2 election, "the timing of the debates looks like a win for Whitman," said Aaron Zelinsky, editor of the Presidential Debate Blog, where academics and pundits dissect high-level political debate.

Should Whitman, a first-time candidate, perform badly at the debates, the billionaire former eBay CEO who has spent $91 million of her own money on the race will have enough time - and cash - to "hit the advertising hard before the election," Zelinsky said. Brown is expected to have far less money than Whitman.

The TV audience for the Fresno debate is likely to be small, as it is scheduled for a Saturday afternoon, "when most people are going to be watching college football if they're watching TV then," Zelinsky said.

Asked whether Whitman is considering any of Brown's other proposed debates, Whitman spokesperson Sarah Pompei said, "These were the strongest proposals. This is a chance for Meg and Jerry to talk about the issues."

While Brown's campaign has spent little since the June primary, preferring to harbor its cash for a post-Labor Day blitz, Whitman has doubled the amount of TV advertising airing in Los Angeles in recent days, and is spending about $1 million a week on advertising there.

No debates between Whitman and Brown are planned for anywhere in Southern California.

"They realize that's a problem" for Whitman's campaign, said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for California Working Families, an independent-expenditure organization that opposes Whitman but is operated and funded separately from Brown's campaign. "It's clear that they want a controlled message in L.A.," the state's largest media market.

Backed by contributions from organized labor, California Working Families, which supports Brown, has been advertising heavily in Los Angeles in an effort to blunt Whitman there.

"If you can buy a million dollars a week in L.A., why should you debate there?" Salazar said.

'Level playing field'

More debates would be beneficial to Brown "because it provides a level playing field for both candidates to get out their ideas," said Alan Schroeder, an associate professor of journalism at Northeastern University and author of "Presidential Debates: 50 Years of High-Risk TV."

Brown, the state attorney general and a three-time presidential candidate. "has a ton of debating experience, on the national stage, even," Schroeder said.

"He's pretty good, pretty aggressive, knows how to land a punch," Schroeder said. "He obviously wants more debates because he's familiar with them. It's live and unscripted. She's a (former) CEO. She is used to coming in and telling her story."

The debates in the governor's race will be of interest nationwide because of California's prominence, and promise to be an entertaining study in contrasts between the candidates.

During the GOP primary, Whitman participated in just one debate that was televised statewide. Many of her public appearances are choreographed to the last detail, and she is accompanied by a retinue of aides.

By contrast, Brown's campaign doesn't provide advance copies of his remarks at campaign events because there aren't any advance texts to distribute, and he often speaks extemporaneously.

That sort of free-flowing spontaneity carries its own risks.

"Sometimes in a debate he falls in love with the sound of his own words and he gets on a roll," Zelinsky said. "And that can be dangerous in a debate."

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.